The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 119

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“You know, Annellia. Don’t you think Armin seems a bit different?”

I stopped sipping my orange juice and looked up.

I could see Euriko sitting across from me with a curious expression.

“Armin has always been the model student among model students. He talks to professors like an adult, and he’s always kind to other kids. Just…”

“Just?”

“Just cold only to you and me. Only to the kids in the same group as him.”

I nodded.

I had some idea why Armin was hostile toward us.

‘First of all, it was obvious he disliked Euriko for being bad at studying.’

As for me, he seemed jealous that I got higher grades than him.

But I could understand Armin.

“Armin has an incredibly strong competitive spirit.”

“Annellia, is that what you think?”

“Yeah! Everyone wants to be the best in the field they like. Armin couldn’t be the best because of me, so he must have been upset.”

Euriko’s eyes lit up as she said, “I see…”

Then she suddenly opened her mouth as if remembering what she originally wanted to say.

“Right, exactly! So he’s been really cold to you and me all this time, but today he took your side!”

I put down the orange juice I was drinking on the table.

This was Euriko’s dormitory, and only the two of us were inside.

“Right. It was kind of touching.”

The male students who had been teasing me nastily trudged away after getting a harsh verbal beating from Armin.

Perhaps because I was a princess of House Abner, the young kids here couldn’t openly show their dislike for me even when they didn’t like me.

Most of the time, they would subtly tease me like they just did, making sure I could hear.

‘Ugh, but the subtle stuff is more annoying.’

If they teased me to my face, I could at least get back at them, but subtle provocations were hard to deal with since they could just deny it.

So whenever I was teased about my missing front teeth, I would quietly move to another place or pretend not to hear.

But today, I didn’t need to do that.

‘Keep doing that in the future. Even when Brother Dimas comes back, keep teasing Annellia about her front teeth.’

‘…’

‘Unlike me, my brother is incredibly strong. He’s already manifested his aura, so it should be easy.’

‘Wh-what do you mean easy?’

‘Just like Annellia, making you guys lose two front teeth each.’

Armin’s smile was truly menacing.

To think he could smile like a back-alley thug while having the face of nobility dripping with aristocratic bearing…

The male students went back with completely terrified faces.

It seemed they wouldn’t think of teasing me for a while.

‘Phew, I want to turn twelve quickly too.’

Regardless of status and position, age had a subtly absolute aspect to it.

Especially here at the Academy of Pharmacy where young kids lived together, separated from family and background.

‘It feels really good to have Armin take my side.’

Like having an older brother?

The Longton Princes used to protect Hiana in this way too.

When I was young, I was quite envious of that.

‘Come to think of it, in this life I have some people like that too.’

First Awin, and thinking about it, Owen too.

‘On the surface he’s my teacher, but he actually feels more like a big brother, yeah.’

Wendel, Grandmother’s aide, was the same.

Though I haven’t seen him often lately since he seems busy with work, Wendel would melt whenever he saw me.

When I called “Uncle Wendel~” I could see his face getting all soft even from far away.

Lastly, Theo.

‘Theo is like a big tree.’

Strangely, I felt at ease when I was with Theo.

Like he was incredibly dependable?

‘It’s the first time I’ve felt that way since Grandmother.’

Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Theo and Rico recently.

Theo hasn’t returned since he last went to the Magic Tower, and Rico was the same.

‘Just giving me that strange book and disappearing.’

Thanks to that, I had tons of things to look up regarding divine dragons or whatever.

The problem was that information about divine dragons, evil dragons, and ancient shamans was extremely limited.

‘I tried looking just in case, but the Academy of Pharmacy didn’t have any either.’

Not in the Abner Library, nor in the Academy of Pharmacy archives.

I even went through the entire Imperial Palace archives catalog with Tian’s help a few days ago, but couldn’t find anything.

‘Then there’s only one method left.’

It was the moment I was thinking about the one remaining option.

“Oh? It’s a Marque Kingdom carriage!”

Euriko, who had been peering out the window, shouted.

Then she turned around with a bright face.

“Dimas must be here! Annellia!”

“Really? Is that really true?”

“I’m telling you it is.”

I looked at Armin, who stood there like a stone statue, holding back tears.

Armin stood frozen in place, unable to hug the returned Dimas or even look at him properly.

Dimas approached Armin first.

Then he patted his shoulder and said.

“I’m really healthy now. The pain is gone too, and just to be sure, I had a reagent test done, but no poison was detected.”

“…”

Dimas looked at the silent Armin and let out a sigh mixed with laughter.

Then he turned his gaze toward me and said.

“Annellia. Thank you so much.”

I was startled and waved my hands.

“No!”

“Don’t say no. My parents want to give you a great reward. They said they’d give you ten islands from the Marque Archipelago.”

My mouth fell open.

Ten islands from the Marque Archipelago.

I swallowed my saliva but had to hold back.

I already had something else in mind as a reward.

“Then instead of islands, I…”

Dimas’s eyes widened.

“Instead of islands? Is there something else you want from our parents?”

Armin also looked this way with a curious expression.

“Yeah. Actually, there’s something I really want to find!”

“Something you want to find?”

“Some information that’s really hard to get.”

Information about the twelve divine dragons and Crookiatus the Evil Dragon that couldn’t be found no matter how much I searched the Empire.

And information about Lasandra, the shaman who sealed the evil dragon.

“I heard that the auction houses in the Marque Archipelago have everything – treasures, old books, all kinds of stories!”

The Marque Archipelago was the center of trade connecting two continents.

Hundreds of trading ships traveled to and from the archipelago every week, and tens of thousands of various treasures and precious items from around the world flowed in.

‘So you’re saying that even information not available on the continent might be found at the auction house!’

Dimas quietly pondered my words before asking.

“That’s right. Even if we can’t find it at the auction house, the black market might have it….”

I widened my eyes and asked back.

“Black market?”

Armin, who had been silent the whole time, nodded and approached.

“That’s right. You just said it yourself. There’s nothing that doesn’t exist in the Marque Archipelago.”

Then he lightly ruffled my hair.

“The auction house doesn’t even have half of half of half of what we have. The real deal is the black market.”

At this story I was hearing for the first time, I opened my mouth slightly.

“Every month, on nights when the new moon rises, lights come on at a small island in the middle of the archipelago. It looks like an uninhabited island during the day, but at night it completely changes.”

“…Whoa.”

“Dozens of red lanterns sway between the trees, and paths that weren’t there during the day appear deep in the island’s tropical rainforest.”

Armin’s explanation was so vivid it seemed to paint itself before my eyes.

“Stalls made of old wooden planks start lining up along the paths. The dark sea surrounding the island ripples, and you can hear the sound of land sharks gathering.”

“Land sharks?”

“It’s slang for wandering ships at the black market. It refers to thousands of ships that come from all over the world carrying treasures.”

I gulped.

“You can assume that all kinds of rare and precious things are there. Everything without exception.”

Armin smiled with a confident expression.

“Of course, that includes information too.”

When the explanation ended, I had a completely entranced look on my face.

It was because the description of the black market was so fascinating.

Armin bent his waist slightly and met my gaze.

“So, what information do you want to get?”

“Well, I…!”

Armin and Dimas’s eyes widened when they heard my following words.

Research Journal (and Diary) – Annellia Abner

-Even my bottom teeth fell out… It feels strange so I can’t concentrate on studying.

.

.

.

-Dimas learns incredibly fast.

The problem is Euriko, but nobody dislikes Euriko. Euriko works harder than anyone!

-I came up with a new experiment topic!

I’m confident in magical studies and pharmacy, and Armin understands the principles of sorcery well.

When we combined the two, we came up with a really interesting experiment topic.

-My new teeth started growing!

Now I can concentrate on studying even more!

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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